Monday, February 16, 2009

World of Outlaw Late Model Series News & Notes: Wrapping Up The 38th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH

World of Outlaw Late Model Series News & Notes: Wrapping Up The 38th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH

BARBERVILLE, FL – Feb. 16, 2009 –

TIP OF THE HAT: Steve Francis was beaming after closing the 38th annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH with a powerful victory in Saturday night’s 50-lap World of Outlaws Late Model Series event, but he had no illusions about who was the star of the week at Volusia Speedway Park.

The Kentucky Colonel hailed his fellow WoO LMS regular Josh Richards, who set the half-mile oval on fire by capturing the tour’s season opener on Thursday night and a $10,000-to-win UMP DIRTcar-sanctioned Super Late Model special on Friday night.

“We might have won the last race, but nobody is gonna forget about Josh’s performance here,” said Francis. “He comes out of here the ‘King of Florida.’ They had a phenomenal Florida trip.”


Richards, 20, couldn’t complete a sweep of the week’s three $10,000-to-win events, finishing a relatively quiet seventh in Saturday night’s WoO LMS finale. He advanced a modest five positions from his 12th starting spot.

“The track was a little bit different tonight after the (one-hour) rain delay,” Richards said following Saturday’s action. “Francis was a little bit softer on tires, so he could lean on the cushion and gain some time. Everyone else was pretty much equal and had a hard time passing.”

NICE FINISH: Disappointed after failing to qualify for the WoO LMS lidlifter on Thursday night due to a heat-race crash and learning that his application for Rookie of the Year status on the 2009 WoO LMS had been denied by vote of a panel of six veteran drivers and media members, Brady Smith turned his emotions around with a sterling second-place finish in Saturday night’s A-Main.

The 31-year-old headed home to Solon Springs, Wis., with a clear understanding of where his program needs to be improved before the next WoO LMS event, on March 13-14 at Deep South Speedway in Loxley, Ala.



“We have some work to do,” said Smith, who led laps 1-35 of Saturday’s feature. “We have to get a second car ready that works consistently. This one we ran (on Friday and Saturday) is our ‘old reliable’ (Bloomquist Chassis) car. It’s like my ‘honey car’ – she’s always reliable, always there for me. We need to get another one running just like it.”



KNOCKING ON THE DOOR: Judging by the race results down south, the Rick Eckert who won 15 WoO LMS A-Mains from 2004 through mid-2006 – including eight of the first 17 events in ’06 – is thisclose to making a huge return to the scene.



Armed with new Bloomquist Chassis cars for the 2009 campaign, Eckert, 43, of York, Pa., appears rejuvenated after being mired in a two-and-a-half-year slump. He failed to win an A-Main during the six-night Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH, but he finished as high as second (in a UMP DIRTcar event) and third (in Saturday’s WoO LMS finale) during a three-week, season-opening swing through Georgia and Florida that proved his current victory drought on the WoO LMS (one win in the last 102 races) will undoubtedly come to an end.



“I’m disappointed we didn’t win,” said Eckert, who never finished outside the top 10 in his 15 starts in Georgia and Florida. “But I can look back at the last few years we were down here and think about how bad we ran, so the way we’ve run does make us happy.



“I’m just excited to go to the next race now. This gets us pumped up for the rest of the year.”



ROUGH START: No WoO LMS driver experienced a more frustrating visit to Volusia Speedway Park than Clint Smith, a veteran tour regular who gained attention only for jumping in-and-out of the three cars at his disposal and two near-disastrous incidents.



One year after scoring his first career victory at VSP in the $10,000-to-win UMP DIRTcar Super Late Model finale, Smith was never a factor in the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH. His top finish was a 17th in the week’s first UMP DIRTcar A-Main; he failed to qualify for the ensuing three UMP DIRTcar shows and used provisional spots to start both WoO LMS features, with dismal finishes of 20th and 22nd sending him home 22nd in the points standings, already 76 points behind leader Francis.



Smith, who drove two of his own GRT mounts and a GRT owned by Mississippi’s Don Cliburn, narrowly escaped major problems during qualifying for two UMP DIRTcar programs. On Wednesday night he got squeezed into the outside wall on the homestretch early in a heat race and rode the concrete for what seemed like an eternity; he said he avoided flipping by cutting the steering wheel hard to the left to pull the car off the wall, but he had to retire with suspension damage after completing one more lap. Later, on Friday night, he pulled to the infield during time trials with flames shooting from under his car’s hood due to a flare-up caused by a loose fuel line to the carburetor, but again damage was minimal.



MISERABLE WEEK: WoO LMS star Chub Frank has enjoyed plenty of success at VSP over the years, but that wasn’t the case last week.



Frank, 47, entered the week saddened after one of his two trusty Chihuahuas, Champ, was killed a few days earlier when it was hit in a Wal-Mart parking lot where Frank’s hauler was parked. He didn’t put the despair behind him with a strong performance at VSP, struggling throughout the meet and recording disappointing WoO LMS finishes of ninth (Thursday) and 24th (after using a provisional to start the A-Main, spinning and then retiring from action on lap 24).

THEY’LL TAKE IT: Shane Clanton and Tim Fuller left Volusia in much better shape in the WoO LMS points standings than they did one year ago.

Last season both drivers dug themselves big holes in the points race, running into trouble in the two WoO LMS events while in contention for top-five finishes. Fuller headed home tied for 16th in the standings (62 points out of the lead), while Clanton was 19th in the rankings (-84 points).

With Clanton scoring a pair of top-10 finishes in this year’s WoO LMS shows and Fuller finishing eighth and 14th, Clanton sits tied for fourth in the standings (-18 points) and Fuller is tied for seventh (-36 points).

Fuller made an especially respectable recovery on Saturday night. He used a provisional spot and started 28th in the A-Main after an incorrect tire choice prompted him to drop out of his heat race, but he inched his way forward to finish on the lead lap in 14th place.

The Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH continued Fuller’s new-for-’09 deal serving as a mentor for teenage racer Tyler Reddick of Corning, Calif. Reddick, who plans to chase the 2009 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year award, turned heads – and impressed Fuller – by qualifying through a heat race in his first-ever WoO LMS event on Thursday night (he finished two laps down in 24th), but a blown engine left the ‘California Kid’ a non-qualifier on Saturday.

SMOKE SCREEN: Vic Coffey thought he had his new Sweeteners Plus Rocket car cruising into Saturday night’s headliner with a solid hold on second place in the first B-Main after the rain delay.

Well, the 2008 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year crossed the finish line to place second. But when he stopped in the infield just short of the scales, a huge cloud of smoke and steam billowed from the engine compartment of his car, filling the cockpit and prompting him to bail out until it dissipated.

“The motor blew up,” said Coffey, who went on to finish 20th in the A-Main after his crew scrambled to prepare his backup car. “It was running great until the last lap. Then it started to skip so I switched to the second ignition after the race because I thought that might be the problem, but it was the motor.”

ON THE MEND: Coffey’s teammate, former WoO LMS champion Tim McCreadie, was seen in the VSP pit area throughout the week, assisting Coffey and visiting with friends while continuing to recover from the fractured vertebra he suffered in a vicious wreck on Jan. 14 during the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Okla.



McCreadie, 34, sported a wraparound back brace and walked gingerly, but he was in good spirits despite watching from the sidelines. He said he’s hoping to get a clean bill of health from his doctors to go racing again by late April/early May, and he expressed deep appreciation to everyone in the racing community who has donated to the recovery fund that has been established to assist with his medical expenses.

DIFFICULT TRIP: WoO LMS Rookie of the Year contender Dustin Hapka saw his season get off to a bad start – before he even arrived at Volusia Speedway Park.

The 25-year-old’s long haul to Florida from Grand Forks, N.D., was plagued by problems at truck stops. First, when the team fueled up in Illinois, his mother’s credit card number was apparently obtained by someone there and used to make over $2,000 in purchases. (Fortunately, Mrs. Hapka had reported the possibility of a problem to her credit-card company after feeling uneasy about the transaction at the truck stop.) Shortly thereafter, in broad daylight at a truck stop in Kentucky, one of Hapka’s crewman was cornered between trucks by assailants while away from his group and robbed of his money.

Hapka didn’t qualify for an A-Main during the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH, but he chalked the week up as a “valuable learning experience” and is looking forward to the remainder of his first busy season in the full-bore Late Model division.



HEARTBREAK: Nineteen-year-old Russ King of Bristolville, Ohio, who is considering a run at the 2009 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year award if his family-owned team can obtain sufficient sponsorship, suffered a demoralizing fate on Saturday night.

Flashing his potential, the son of veteran big-block Modified driver Rex King appeared headed to a B-Main victory over veterans Jimmy Owens and Dale McDowell when his car’s engine shut off with just two laps remaining.

THANKS, TEACH: WoO LMS Rookie of the Year candidate Brent Robinson of Smithfield, Va., arrived at the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH late on Wednesday, but it could have been later if not for a cooperative professor.

Robinson, who turns 21 on Feb. 17, is a junior majoring in civil engineering at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. He had a test in a Soils & Foundations class scheduled for Wednesday, but his instructor allowed him to reschedule the exam so he could get on the road to Florida.

Though Robinson fell short of qualifying for a feature during the week, the fourth-year Super Late Model racer is excited about chasing the WoO LMS in ’09 with his family-backed team.

NEW AWARD: John Anderson of Omaha, Neb., and former WoO LMS champion Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., received consolation prizes after failing to qualify for the week’s WoO LMS A-Mains, becoming the first winners of the VP Racing Fuels ‘Nice Jugs’ Award.

As the fastest qualifiers in each night’s Ohlins Shocks Time Trials who did not transfer to the A-Main, Anderson and Moyer received two five-gallon fuel containers from officials representing the official fuel of the WoO LMS. Anderson, who was impressive throughout the DIRTcar Nationals, missed a heat-race transfer spot by one position on Thursday before failing to finish the B-Main, and Moyer dropped out of his heat on Saturday night with terminal engine trouble.

GET OUT THE VOTE: The week’s four Super Late Model A-Mains winners – Francis, Richards, Darren Miller and Earl Pearson Jr. – are eligible for the $10,000 top prize in the Alltel DIRTcar All-Star contest.

The 14 feature winners during the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH earned berths in the contest, which combines on-line and text-message voting. Fans can vote for their favorite driver once a day through Feb. 28 either on-line at www.alltelallstar.com or by texting 247253 and entering their favorite driver’s letter code.

The overall winner as determined by fan votes will receive the $10,000 grand prize, while the top vote-getter in the other three divisions will earn $1,000. Over the 12 consecutive nights of the event that began Feb. 3, 410 Sprint Cars, UMP DIRTcar Modifieds, dirt Late Models and big-block Modifieds all competed.

NEXT UP: The WoO LMS is idle until diving into an early-season ‘Month of Money’ beginning with a two-day show on March 13-14 at Deep South Speedway in Loxley, Ala. Complete programs will be contested both nights at the high-banked oval – a 40-lap A-Main paying $7,000 to win on Fri., March 13, and a 60-lap, $12,000-to-win finale on Sat. March 14.

A total of $109,000 in first-place cash will be on the line over a four-week period of WoO LMS action that begins at Deep South and continues with the inaugural ‘Lone Star 100’ on March 20-21 at Battleground Speedway in Highlands, Texas ($20,000 to win win); the Circle K Colossal 100 on March 27-28 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. ($50,000 to win); and the ‘Illini 100’ on April 3-4 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway ($20,000 to win).

INFO: More information on the WoO LMS is available at www.worldofoutlaws.com.

The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including Arizona Sport Shirts (Official Apparel Company), Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Crane Cams (Official Valvetrain), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), Fusion Energy Boost (Official Energy Boost), SuperClean (Official Cleaner-Degreaser) and VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors Champ Pans, Eibach Springs, Hoosier Tires, Integra Shocks, Jake’s Custom Golf Carts, Ohlins Shocks, Racing Electronics, Quarter Master and Wrisco Aluminum; Crane Cams Engine Builder's Challenge participants Cornett Racing Engines, Custom Race Engines and Pro Power Racing Engines; and Chassis Builder Challenge participants Rocket Chassis and Team Zero by Bloomquist.

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